The Thief That Never Got Away but Learned a Priceless Message That Is Instilled With Him to This Day
I remember being a kid on the farm. I was in eighth grade, and I always wanted a pocket watch.
One day I saw another boy's pocket watch sitting on a bench in the locker room.
And I took it.
I knew it wasn't mine.
For about two or three weeks, I denied having that watch. I thought I was going to get away with it.
But I didn't.
Eventually the principal confronted me, and I had to give the watch back.
But I didn't just hand it back privately.
I remember standing in the center of that basketball court, in that auditorium, in front of everybody.
The principal was there.
My foster parents were there.
They were upset and embarrassed.
And there I was, standing in front of all those people with that pocket watch.
I was asked why I took it.
My answer was simple.
I wanted a pocket watch.
Then the boy started telling me about that watch.
His father had died.
His father had been a farmer, and before he died, he had given that pocket watch to his son.
His father wasn't just his father.
He was close to him.
He was his best friend.
That watch wasn't just something that told time.
It was something he had left from his father.
And I had taken it.
I remember feeling like the blood drained right out of me.
I never thought it was going to go that deep.
I wanted a pocket watch, and I was thinking about myself.
I wasn't thinking about what that watch could mean to somebody else.
I wasn't thinking about the work somebody had done to get it.
I wasn't thinking about the memories attached to it.
I wasn't thinking about the heart attached to it.
I was humiliated standing there in front of everybody.
But as I got older, I realized something else.
My actions had humiliated and hurt that boy too.
I apologized.
But sometimes your actions speak more than any words you can say.
When I went back to the farm that night, I was scared.
I knew there were going to be repercussions.
I knew I was going to be in a lot of trouble.
And I paid the price for what I did.
But looking back today, I'm glad I experienced that lesson.
Because I never stole again.
That day taught me something that became ingrained in my heart and in my soul.
There are things in this world that don't have a price tag.
You can look at something and see a watch.
Somebody else can look at that same watch and see their father.
They can see memories.
They can see love.
They can see somebody they can never get back.
That pocket watch taught me to stop thinking only about what I wanted and start thinking about what something might mean to somebody else.
I took a watch.
But I walked away with a lesson that lasted a lifetime.
And maybe that's one of the reasons we go through some of the things we go through.
Not because we're proud of what we did.
But because if we're willing to learn from it, that mistake can change the road we walk for the rest of our lives.
Because maybe then you'll be able to walk down that road a little longer.
— Jeffrey Badders
